# Chapter 48
I was staring blankly at my drink after Kim Junwoo had disappeared from view when Moon Seoheon tapped my body.
“Let’s go inside.”
“Ah, yes.”
As I came to my senses and raised my head, I made eye contact with Byeon Seungha, who was standing awkwardly with his hands in his pockets. His attitude clearly revealed his displeasure, so I quickly turned my head and entered the classroom.
As soon as I sat down, the bell rang, quieting the noisy classroom. The atmosphere returned to normal, as if the previous silence due to the monthly evaluation had been a lie.
* * *
Classes ended and homeroom period approached. The homeroom teacher’s face looked somewhat serious when he entered the classroom, making the students’ expressions turn subtle. Based on what I’d heard, the monthly evaluation results would be available on the same day. The students seemed puzzled since the monthly evaluation wasn’t included in the GPA or class average, so the teacher’s seriousness couldn’t be due to terrible test scores.
“Good job taking the evaluation. The test scores will be released tomorrow, and as you know, failing grades, including penalty points, result in being demoted by one star, right? The same goes for advancement. For detailed information on academic achievement, check the website. We’ll also be changing seats, so come early tomorrow.”
At his last words, I momentarily turned my head to look at Moon Seoheon. He happened to be glancing at me too, so our eyes met. We looked at each other silently for a moment before both turning back to face forward.
As the teacher continued with trivial matters that didn’t need to be listened to closely, he picked up the attendance book. Before the class president could say goodbye, the teacher looked in my direction and said:
“Yoon Taeho, please come to the faculty office with your bag.”
Though his voice was calm, singling out one student with such a meaningful statement caused a ripple in the quiet classroom. I wore a confused expression amid the momentary murmuring. The teacher shouted for everyone to be quiet. After the class president finished the farewell, the teacher left the classroom.
“What’s going on? Yoon Taeho, did you make a mistake somewhere?”
“…I don’t know.”
I replied nonchalantly to the student in front of me who had turned around to ask. Although I didn’t show it outwardly, I was getting a bit anxious, wondering if something really had happened.
“Is it because of yesterday’s incident? I heard you almost fell from the rooftop.”
“Maybe…”
I tilted my head at another student’s comment and focused on packing my bag. Given that I was asked to bring my bag along, it didn’t seem like this would be resolved quickly.
With my bag slung casually over one shoulder, I waved briefly to the surrounding students watching me, indicating I was leaving. After seeing Moon Seoheon nod slightly, I headed to the faculty office.
I spotted the homeroom teacher sitting in the faculty office and approached him slowly. The teacher, who was organizing his desk, noticed me approaching and gestured for me to wait a moment.
As I stood awkwardly, the teacher finished organizing and picked up a document envelope from the corner.
“Do you have a pen and answer sheet?”
“Yes.”
“Then follow me.”
The teacher stood up and headed somewhere. I was puzzled but followed him out of the faculty office.
Our destination was a study room. There were seven students seated at desks arranged in a ‘ㄷ’ shape, each separated by an empty space.
“Taeho, sit here.”
“Yes…”
I didn’t understand why we were here, but the teacher’s question about whether I had a pen and answer sheet made me suspicious. For now, I hid my disgruntled feelings and sat in the designated spot. Soon after, the door opened and another teacher entered. It was a teacher I had never seen before who greeted my homeroom teacher, looked us over, and spoke sternly:
“You all have been accused of cheating on today’s monthly evaluation, so you will now take a retest.”
The students began murmuring in surprise. The teacher, shouting for quiet, told us to prepare for the test. I swallowed a sigh and took out my pen.
What kind of test results would lead to suspicions of cheating? Was Yoon Taeho’s academic performance worse than expected? Still, as a student here, his intelligence should be decent. My head started to ache from the sudden situation.
The homeroom teacher and the other teacher took out test papers from the document envelope and distributed them. Looking at them, they were completely different from the problems we had solved earlier today.
Since it was a retest, the problems wouldn’t be the same. It seemed a bit strange that only students suspected of cheating had to retake the test, not the entire school. But since it wasn’t the final exam, I decided not to think too deeply about it and focused on solving the problems.
Since all subject tests were distributed at once, there were no breaks. After a few dozen minutes, as I opened the third test paper, I heard crying.
When I looked up, one student was covering their mouth and crying. After staring blankly for a moment, I came to my senses at the teacher’s voice telling us to continue solving.
After safely completing the third subject, chaos ensued. Starting with the student who had been crying from the beginning, two more students began to cry. The remaining students turned in their test papers and answer sheets with resigned expressions and left.
I inwardly sighed and opened the remaining test papers. Now I was the only student left in the room. I briefly made eye contact with the homeroom teacher, whose expression had slightly hardened.
Only when the sunset was faintly visible did I finish solving everything. I put down my pen and submitted the answer sheet.
“Good job. The results will be reflected using this test score.”
“Yes.”
When I calmly accepted this, the homeroom teacher, wearing a subtle expression, carefully asked:
“You didn’t cheat on the morning test, did you?”
“No.”
At my confident answer, the homeroom teacher’s eyes widened, then he smiled slightly and nodded.
“I believe you.”
“Thank you. Then I’ll be going now.”
As I stood up and bowed, the homeroom teacher waved as if to say goodbye. His face didn’t show complete belief in my words. But having seen me take the test right in front of him, he couldn’t think I had cheated again. I would know the results tomorrow. The only anxious element was whether my grades might have fallen even further.
As I left the study room and went outside, I saw students exercising. I briefly focused on a bright brown-haired figure that was noticeable even from a distance.
“He’s working hard.”
On my first day here, I had just watched this eye-catching kid without even thinking he might be the protagonist, but now I wondered how I hadn’t recognized him. Moon Seoheon shone like a lead actor under the spotlight.
Was it because of the late afternoon as the sun was setting? Having captured a dazzling moment of youth that would make a perfect background even in a random shot, my steps were infinitely light, yet I couldn’t help but walk slowly.
Suddenly, the sunlight landed on my face. As I slightly closed my eyes from the brightness, someone behind me shouted “Boo!” and startled me.
After steadying my staggering body and turning around, I immediately saw Maeng Moa holding his stomach and giggling as if something was funny.
“…”
“Hahaha, were you really surprised?”
“A little.”
Not too much. When I begrudgingly affirmed, Maeng Moa giggled again, then stopped and stared at me intently.
“You still haven’t gone home? What are you doing here?”
“…I had something to do at the faculty office. What about you?”
“I’m waiting because someone’s coming to pick me up by car later.”
So he’s a young master with a car coming to pick him up. I was about to say goodbye since I knew now, but Maeng Moa spoke first.
“You haven’t had dinner, right?”
No, I hadn’t. It would still be a while before dinner time, so students in the dormitory or those staying late to study wouldn’t have eaten yet either. Maeng Moa must know this too, so I felt there was something else he wanted to say. I stared at him, and he grinned.
“Then I’ll give you a ride home and even take care of dinner. Want to come with me in the car?”
“…Not really…”
I was about to say there was no need for that, but Maeng Moa cut me off.
“Don’t refuse and come with meee.”
My expression hardened at his aegyo-filled tone as he stretched out his words. I looked at him with narrowed eyes, wondering why he was suddenly acting this way, and he snickered.
“Wow, so serious. I’m really going to feel hurt. I had my lunch ruined because of you today, so shouldn’t you take responsibility?”
“How did I ruin anything?”
He ate quite well from what I saw, so what was he talking about? As I was about to be dumbfounded, Maeng Moa shrugged his shoulders.
“Kwak Junhee sunbae doesn’t usually do that, but he brought stuff like red ginseng juice to feed you. Lunch is the only time I can eat what I want, but it was ruined because of you.”
I hadn’t known that Kwak Junhee had specifically prepared for me, so while I felt strange for a moment, I was also speechless wondering why that was my fault. And why couldn’t he eat freely except at lunchtime?
I swallowed my bewilderment and said with a questioning voice:
“You could eat what you want at dinner time.”
“Come on, I have to practice right after I get there, so I can only eat in the car.”
“Practice? Oh, singing?”
Since he was said to be an aspiring entertainer, it seemed the place he was going by car wasn’t home but a practice room. When I asked in bewilderment, Maeng Moa raised one eyebrow and muttered as if incredulous:
“Acting. Well, I do learn to sing too… Are you pretending not to know on purpose?”
“No… I really didn’t know. So you’re preparing to be an actor.”
It was surprising to hear “actor” when he looked like he’d be more suited for the idol path. As I answered with an awkward smile, Maeng Moa stared at me for a moment and let out a small sigh.
“Ah, forget it. I just wanted some company because I’m bored, but whenever I suggest anything, it’s always ‘no, I don’t want to.’ You respond the same way every time, like some rejection bot.”
Maeng Moa turned towards the students running on the field with a pouty expression. I couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh at his seemingly sulking appearance. What have I been rejecting so much… well, I have been refusing consistently. But what have we done together for him to ask me to stay with him? Still, his claim of boredom seemed genuine, as his voice sounded pitiful while he rubbed the ground with his shoe and muttered:
“I should just watch Seoheon hyung like usual. The car’s supposedly coming late today, but it’s really super late.”
“…Alright. You want me to stay with you until your car arrives?”
“Oh, really?”
Maeng Moa, who had looked dejected just moments ago, raised his head and brightened his eyes as if that had never happened, then smiled widely. Seeing him like this, he looked more his age than when I first met him.
“But what do we do until it comes?”
“Hmm, let’s see? There’s 30 minutes left until it arrives, want to play a game?”
“A game?”
As I tilted my head, unable to guess what he meant by that specific word, Maeng Moa showed me his phone.
“I’ve been playing something recently that’s fun. I’m not that good at it, but let’s play one round together.”
“Oh, a mobile game?”
“Yes.”
Maeng Moa grinned and handed me his phone. Looking at the installed app, it seemed like a shooting game. After watching the short video preview, I could roughly understand what it was and was about to nod that it wouldn’t be bad when I stopped. There was one problem, no, two problems.
“My wrist is injured, so it’s a bit uncomfortable to play. And my phone is in this state.”
“Ah, your wrist… And why is your screen like that? I thought you had put a spider web on it.”
Maeng Moa let out a low sigh as if he had forgotten, then frowned as he looked at my shattered phone and delivered a scathing assessment. I just laughed dejectedly, but soon stopped Maeng Moa as he was about to put his phone away with a pouty lip, as if there was nothing to be done.
“I’ll watch you play, so go ahead.”
“Forget it. I’ve lost interest, don’t feel like playing anymore.”
What am I supposed to do about that? The only thing we could do in the middle of this field is play rock-paper-scissors, but I can’t even do that because my wrist hurts. As I inwardly laughed off these unhelpful thoughts, Maeng Moa, who had been blankly staring at the field, calmly asked:
“Did you do well on the monthly evaluation?”
